Quaint

I’ll be leaving tomorrow (11am) and most likely won’t have any access to the Internet.  What is a geek to do?  I’ll speak to you in about two weeks. 

Take care!

You can click on the image to see the bigger picture.

Look who I found in my spam comments.

Hahaha.

Yesterday was not a great.  Not because of it being Friday 13th; I don’t believe bad luck was so much the cause as my stupidity was.  I had both sides of my handle pressed but I needed more depth so as soon I got into university I went straight to work.  Things were going so well until…my one of the pressings split.

The pressing that split - oh noes.

Back to the drawing board.  I started making a replacement.  Fortunately I had a spare rectangular sheet of nickel.  I pressed that sheet using 4000psi¹ that I had pressed the wrong side of the handle.  Silly, silly me.

This is what I used to help form the shape of the handle.

Vicious cycle.  My day was basically spent pressing².  Although my friend Nadia did give me a good laugh.  Look at what she did to my handle prototype:

Mrs Betsy, the "snake" handle.

Those were her thoughts then.  Although in a speech bubble she is referring to me, quote: “She broke it!!  She broke it!!”  That wasn’t to do with the split in the pressing but more with the bench.  No, I didn’t go Incredible Hulk on it, I was trying to fix the lether tray-thing but ended up doing more damage.  Whoops.  My patch up job wasn’t too bad though, I don’t think so anyway.

Mrs Betsy Factoid:

• Name: Mrs Betsy
• D.O.B: 12th March
• Height: 160mm
• P.O.B: School Of Jewellery, Birmingham
• Personality: She is a little self-absorbed and high maintenance; needing a make-over³ should someone touch her body décor.  Outspoken and clever; barely 2 hours old she learnt to spell “difficulty”.  Mrs Betsy is cheeky but altogether and all-rounder. Well…maybe not.

1. 4000psi doesn’t give a lot of depth but in order to increase the depth we have to saw off more of the flange; the waste metal around the pressing).), then sawed off the excess metal, leaving a 5mm border around the pressing.  Sawing took a long, long time but after 45 minutes+ I was there.  Jogged back down to the basement to anneal my metal before pressing to 6000psi.  Went back cut more off the flange but realised ((Thanks to the lecturer. [↩]
2. Good work out though. [↩]
3. Her stylist is Nadia. [↩]

Do you get that feeling where you have spent hours working on a project but it doesn’t seem as if you’ve acheived anything?  Today I worked on my projects for a good few hours but it doesn’t seem as if I’ve done anything.

If you would be so lovely as to help me¹ with my presentation, please answer the following questions:

1. Do you think using recycled articles to make new ones will be a new fad (for lack of better word) in the future?   Possibly eliminating the use of more precious materials.  Maybe Valentino will make a dress out of old curtain nets? (Apologies to all fashionistas for the horrendous imagery).
2. Do you think class plays a part in what kind of products people choose to buy?  E.g. Choosing between a Chanel bag or an eco-bag.
3. Could more be done to reduce land fill?  If so, how?
4. How does your country promote recycling?
5. In terms of jewellery would you choose a piece made from recycled items (buttons, watch straps) over a precious metal piece?
6. For us geeks, would you consider jewellery made from electronic components?²

1. Here comes some sucking up [↩]
2. This one won’t be part of my presentation.  I’m just intrigued. [↩]

I’m going to Hong Kong!  Woo.  I’ve been wanting to go back for a year now so when news broke, I couldn’t have been more happier.

Before that trip though I have to complete four projects:

1. Knife project – the bandsaw is unbelievably slow;
2. Ring project – I’m making a ring, and keeping a journal on how to mount¹;
3. Photoshop – I’ve been doing most of the work at home so hopefully I’ve achieved what they wanted;
4. Presentation – Mine’s after the holiday but I want to get it done well before the Easter holidays and my trip to HK.  For those who are interested I’ll be waffling about recycling.

Incidentally, I could just forget all that and just think about what I’m going to do when I’m at Hong Kong.   Maybe not, grades matter too much.

1. make the settings for stones [↩]